Well-being and a prosperous old age in the narratives of the older generation

Abstract

The article analyzes subjective perception of well-being and a prosperous old age based on in-depth interviews with elderly people from Vologda region. These categories are considered at different levels of understanding starting from implicit, reconstructed through the description of everyday practices, and explicit, through the comprehension of the abstract concepts of “well-being” and “a prosperous old age”. The finding reveals a gap between these levels. in everyday life, older people experience well-being as multidimensional and processual. However, when directly asked about well-being, respondents tend to reduce its components, describing well-being as a set of individual conditions. The components of wellbeing (psychological, physiological, activity-related, social, material) interact at all levels of understanding, but the nature of these relationships differs. in everyday narratives they are in a synergistic relationship and are inseparable from each other, while in abstract discussions, informants easily distinguish the components and rank them in order of importance. When speaking about a prosperous old age, the narratives of the elderly become more concrete, relating to the current life stage and the state “here and now”, while the understanding of well-being was described more generally and broadly. a prosperous old age was often reduced to statements about health, but despite the priority mentioned of the physiological component, it did not act as the semantic center of the elderly’s daily activities. The social component of well-being showed a dual character. in everyday life social engagement and meaningful communication acted as a significant resource for well-being, while at the levels of abstract understanding of well-being, autonomy and independence become more important. in addition, many narratives shift from personal well-being to the well-being of close family members. This suggests that well-being is experienced not only individually but also as an intergenerational phenomenon.

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